Brief: The Truth about Healthcare Price Transparency

By Martina Dolan on July 4, 2018

From Altarum Healthcare Value Hub, a research brief on the truth about healthcare price transparency. Despite its merits, price transparency is also inappropriately credited for its ability to make markets more efficient. Most notably, transparency tools have generally not been successful when it comes to incentivizing consumers to compare services and shop for the best price. Increasing the effectiveness of price transparency will require a nuanced understanding of its strengths and limitations with respect to each audience using the information: patients, policymakers, regulators and providers. This brief discusses the opportunities and limitations of price transparency and explores its uses by stakeholder group.